WOODBINE – Mayor William Pikolycky announced March 12 that the Borough of Woodbine recently submitted an application for $65,700 in funding to the Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) Program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development (USDARD).
According to a release, grant funds would be used to carry out a study and analysis to determine the feasibility of redeveloping outdated/obsolete hangars at the Woodbine Municipal Airport.
“Because of its strategic location in Cape May County, the Woodbine Airport attracts fixed-wing and helicopter activity and is home to an aerial advertising and an aviation company as well as drone activity,” stated Pikolycky, “but the airport’s ability to attract additional small businesses is limited by the functionally obsolete hangars that lack appropriate mechanical systems and which routinely require more in repairs than what the buildings are worth.”
Under the proposed grant, the borough would conduct a thorough analysis of the physical condition of the hangars and present concepts for a redevelopment strategy to upgrade/recondition and/or replace the hangars with new, state-of-the-art facilities and related infrastructure that will meet the needs of modern small businesses. Concurrent with this study will be an analysis of costs to implement the identified strategy and how it might be funded.
“The airport has the gained potential as a real economic driver for Woodbine,” stated. “Assuming that the study shows feasibility, we are anticipating the creation of an average of six permanent, full-time jobs per hangar or an estimated 36 new jobs – and a like number of part-time positions – for borough residents at build out.”
According to the USDA, the RBDG is a competitive grant designed to support targeted technical assistance, training, and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas. Grant awards are expected to be announced in early to mid-summer of this year.
“Over the years, the USDA has been a tremendous partner with Woodbine,” Pikolycky concluded. “We are looking forward to continuing that relationship through an RBDG award.”
